Why are Stars Dots in the Sky?
Most recent answer: 10/30/2016
Q:
Why are stars dots in the sky?
- Ancient (age 20)
athens, greece
- Ancient (age 20)
athens, greece
A:
They appear to be dots because they are so far away. If you look with your naked eye all of the stars appear as dots. The smallest angular size a lens can resolve is proportional to the wavelength of the light divided by the diameter of the lens. The eye has a diameter of a few millimeters. However the Hubble Space Telescope has a much larger diameter (2.4 meters) and its angular resolution is good enough to measure the diameter of a half-dozen of the closest stars.
LeeH
(published on 10/30/2016)